it sounded like an AA meeting introduction "I'm Mat Easton, and I like swords. It's been three months since I last bought a sword. I wanted to buy a sword a week ago, but I spoke to my sponsor until that feeling went away" lol
One thing that's forgotten about quenching or lack thereof on weapons, is that the weapon can be work hardened with hammering. It might not be as hard as quenching (and it can be easy to go too far and then you have to anneal the blade), but it's still quite good for hardness, and is how they made hard edges in the bronze age and early iron age. Another aspect that's not often talked about is edge retention vs ease of sharpening. A blade that holds its edge well, is usually not as easy to sharpen, compared to a blade that doesn't hold an edge well, but is very easy to sharpen. In a survival situation, that's an important thing to consider.
The clash of steel, the ring of swords, the song of steel, the singing sword. A dull or off tone can also indicate cracks in the blade. Much like tuning the stays and shrouds of a sailboat.
I can envision it all, Matt is standing there starring through the camera straight into my soul, not saying a single word but making several different sword noises until the video abruptly ends. Sword ASMR with Matt Easton 😂
I'm part of a renn faire group who does presentations about arms, armor and thier use throughout California, and I run into sooooooo many people who watch forged in fire and have no idea about tempering because they generally leave it out.
And now I kind of want to start collecting swords and finding a way to tune them to different notes such that they can be used to play music... Because why not?
Tempering is one of the most important swordsmithing process and yet it's highly understimated. No one hardened something without tempering. Even the Japanese tempered their swords, it's a process called "yaki modoshi" or "aitori". Nowadays many people use hardening and tempering interchangeably adding even more confusion on the terms...
An alternative to the knife test at the end that was also shown on the forged in fire spin off is simply scratching the blade. If you take your knife of known hardness. With the point or edge attempt to scratch your sword near the edge or on the flat. Similar to the file test if it cuts or scratches it's soft if it glides right across it's hard or has been hardened. A little less barbaric then smashing them together and you can pick a more suitable part of both blades.
Okay, quickly grab the sword.....oh wait, go put on your Super Dry shirt. Okay, grab the sword then spend twenty minutes explaining context and background, wait for you opponent to start nodding off and then stab them.
I like how you're already holding and swinging a sword right at the beginning of your video! I like that cutlass you were testing! Seeing that kind of solid spring in a blade is awesome! You've got a great collection! Definitely a true enthusiast!
Of course you might get banned from those cheap fantasy sword shops if you go in there and discover their stock does not return at all to straight after bending.
I mean yeah, those are great ways to test if you grab a sword and need to kill zombies or escape a jail. But really, if that's the first sword I see, I'm not gonna take the time to test it if I need to get out of there with a quickness. Even if it's essentially a big blunt bar of metal, it'll still do at least some damage. More than I could with my hands. Even wildly flailing like an inexperienced nonce (which I am).
*Two useful definitions for hardness and toughness (borrowed from mineralogy):* _Hardness_ - The ability for the surface of a material to resist permanent deformation. _Toughness_ - The ability for the body of a material to resist self separation. *Exemplification in postulates of these two aspects of material strength at play:* _a)_ If part of a cutting edge has folded, that is a failure of hardness but not toughness. The material changed it's shape but did not come apart from itself. The geometry in the plane that constitutes the surface has been altered to a degree that the materials shape memory does not cause it to return to a previously held geometry. _b)_ If that same section of edge were chipped instead of folded, that is a failure of toughness but not hardness. If you found the missing chip you'd discover under close examination that the preexisting surfaces are undamaged. The newly created edges of the piece of material would be sharp and the newly created surfaces would mesh back into the material from which it separated with a very close to perfect fit. This would show that along the plane that constitutes the preexisting surface that the geometry had not changed. Even though the material let go of itself. _c)_ Likewise if you were to drive a steel nail into a plate of copper (which does not have a thickness great than that of the nail) with enough force. The likely result is that the side the nail was driven into will be inset and the opposite side of the plate will be outset. This is a through dent. Were you to drive that nail again with a little more force the tip of the nail would break through the plate. This is a pierce. The through dent is the result of a failure of hardness. The pierce is the result of a failure of toughness.
Perhaps, but smiths, metallurgists, and metalworkers of all types already use "toughness" as the standard term for the property of how resilient it is, so it's a bit late to change it now.
Different properties on non brittle materials. Toughness is energy before failure. Resilience is energy before plastic deformation. Might be similar for hardened steel
Cool to know about the ringing. Perfectly timed too. Have my first European longsword on the way(only own katana and sabres as of now) That's a really good, quick way to see if everything is tight. Thank you so much. Hoping I hear that ring...
And there was I thinking you just need to "swish!" it once to the left, once to the right, & then you'd know its quality like they do in the movies! Great video Matt. No need to test my sword collection as they're all I can afford-cheap wall hangers. Only one came sharp (So I quickly blunted it with a file)- The, "sword of Themistocles", which is one of the two really awful unbalanced heavy lumps in the collection.
Differential hardening is the more correct term used when describing blades that have a softer perlite rich spine. Japanese swords were/are differentially hardened, but are not edge quenched. Also I'm quite surprised you didn't mention the brass rod test! Good video.
Lost Marimo I interested in how many swords you've considered successful. If more than two, than I'm even more interested in how you typed your comment?
Wonderfully covered. Spring tempered steel is tough stuff, and modern steel is just incredible. When I make my knives, the first thing I do when it comes out of the tempering oven is put a test handle on it and stab it into a mild steel I beam as hard as I can. With the steels I use it there is rarely any damage. Even if it’s sharpened there isn’t much damage. Don’t do this with swords (they are thinner in the tip) and don’t do it with stainless.
In my experience swords with the tangs completed surrounded by the grip, such as the katana or many talwars tend not to ring- the tang does not run completely through but terminates inside the grip material.
Alex F cold steel did perform the full Wilkinson test on some of their blades and did quite some other abuse... PS: their blades are very good but the rest not so much (handling, fittings and quality control)
Kenneth Knutsen some even slept in armour if they had to expect enemy contact... still it was certainly done that you wore only half your gear in standby (maybe no plate armour but only gambesson and mail and an open faced helmet rather than a closed one)
Wasn't the surcoat adopted partly as it covered the armour from the hot sun in middle eastern climes? Maybe most heavily armoured troopd were accomstomed to it through knightly training as page & squire.
Two additions: One: If a sword does not ring clean, or only for a short time, it can also indicate cracks and delaminations in the blade. Didn't hear you mention this. This is probably the best reason to ring a blade. A loose hilt is not nearly the issue a cracked blade is. When the vibrations of the ringing hit an inconsistency in the metal it messes with the wavelength and reflects it causing the ringing to die. It is possible in some cases to find the crack in a metal item by ear, tapping around the item and looking for sound changes. Two: In modern times scythes and sickles are hammer sharpened. You do not grind, you use a hammer straighten the edge and thin it to sharpen.Copper, brass, and bronze all work harden when hammered and soften back up with heat annealing. My guess is in ancient times they edge hardened the swords by hammering.
What about testing its weight, balance and behaviour in the hand if you're a noob? Maybe you want to buy a training sword and you don't know if it's crap or good quality, for example. I've had an antique sabre in my hands in my HEMA club and the veterans were amazed by the difference between the training sabres we use and the antique. It felt lighter, but I didn't know how to move it to feel the balance.
Just a suggestion: If you don't happen to have a file handy, but you've got your "knife of known hardness" (even it that's "Hey, this knife is hard!"), you could perhaps use the very tip of the knife to attempt to scratch just behind the cutting edge of the sword. It's still an unkind thing to do, but it's a bit less destructive than banging the cutting edges together.
I am not knowledgeable concerning swords but I have "some" experience with knives . I notice you handle the blades with your bare hands . How do you control rust formation from fingerprints and such . I have often found rusty finger prints within a day or two of handling a knife . I tend to oil rag wipe my knives , I believe, too often .
Ben Franklin, valid question! As a 5-year Scholagladiatoria subber, I feel that I can kiiinda speak for Matt on this(oh, I feel audacious saying that!😃). Anyway, he's mentioned it before, but I can't remember which video. He does the same thing you do. Not only does he wipe down all his blades fairly regularly, he makes sure they always have a light film of oil on them. That way, even if he doesn't get around to wiping a blade down immediately after handling, any salts from his hand sweat should be neutralized, at least for the time being. Also, I don't know about Matt with regards to hand washing, but I believe that washing(or even just rinsing with cold water) one's hands before handling sword/knife blades, can go a long way to mitigate sweat-induced rust.
Andrew Eden Thanks for the input . have you heard of the waxes talked about at " Museum Replicas " ? I haven't tried it myself but noticed a wax like coating on a sword from "Cold Steel" .
Hello Matt you can do the same "ringing" technique with double barrel shotguns or drillings firearms as well . If it rings you'll know that none of the soldering has come undone and the barrels are connected well to the receiver. Just hang the barrel from your finger where the forearm attached to barrel and ring away.
Really good video. Was a bit worried about the 'quick' duration, but it was all really good. I like the Forged in Fire references. I suspect they avoid tempering because it would add time, and some of the audience would not like seeing two 'similar' heat-related processes. Anyway, the show is super fun, esp when they say 'I've made knives, but never swords!' The forge is always too short, heh.
There are two additional things I'd do: 1) thrust at a tree and see if the point bends or dulls (and if the blade bends or the grip loosens) 2) whack a soft wood with the blade and look for edge damage and blunting (and check for rattling). BTW: most blades will never allow to shave yourself, but you can test if the blade bites into your fingernail or is able to remove a bit of the thick layer of dead skin on your foot...
This was really entertaining and informative. And I'm not crazy about swords and just stumbled on this through a Google search. Even your rants were interesting and informative.
Instead of smashing 2 bladed edges together inorder to find out which one is harder, you can use the sword or blade to scratch a thick glass bottle. Many glass bottles from beverages are consistently about 60 HRC and if you use the blade to carve a solid notch in the bottle that you can feel with more than your fingernail, the steel is hard and done WITHOUT major edge damage
Many thanks for the detailed reply, Matt. The specific scenario I had in mind was where the lord or boss of the castle returns from some especially dangerous solo mission in which his previous sword was first badly damaged by rough use, then lost entirely in a sort of tsunami. When he first gets home he calls for his personal assistant or literal batman to fetch him a new blade. He is really not a nice guy at this point in the story and is well aware that his henchmen serve him out of fear, not love. So, as I said, he does not exactly trust any of them 100 percent. His servant might well hand him a deliberately sabotaged weapon. It's a brief novel, notable for its sparse, terse prose. It says only that, " Before he had fully undressed, a fresh blade was brought to him. He paused to test it, then nodded. " His testing procedures are not specified, but I am going to assume they are something pretty similar to what you just showed us.
Matt just a quick point on 18:30 , Steel has a pretty special material property that it can flex a practical infinite amount of times without failure as long as the flexes are below a certain strain limit. Aluminium like in Aeroplane wings (18:17) does not have this property and will fail from small flexes eventually.
Walk the camera from the sword shed to the garden. I think we'd enjoy seeing how they relate spatially.
6 років тому
It exsists for sale some sandpaper with different hardness, their hardness being measured in rockwell. If you use those sandpapers from the softer to the harder, you can determine quite easily the hardness of your metal, sword or otherwise.
To anyone reading this, please, do me a favor and never test hardened blades by striking their edges together. You can damage both of your blades and potentially render them unsafe to use should any cracking occur. Or you might just break one or both of them. A file test is much less destructive and will tell you how hard the blade is. Resharpening the edge is much easier than repairing damage.
so for the last part, treat your training weapons as a consumable. test is whenever you need it and when it loses its required properties, replace it. its easier to replace a damaged sword than to fix a damaged health
Kieran Fitzgerald the key here is context. 19 minutes is quickly, compared to the 45 minutes this video should have been, that I would have watched in its entirety.
Not watched the whole video yet but i can tell you that at least one Italian manual suggests to hit hard the flat of the blade on water or a plain wooden plank, in a way that the whole blade hits the surface at the same time. If it resists, the blade is good.
I recall theese for now. (Cerri also suggest to test the edge by hitting an iron nail). if you need a hand with the translation feel free to ask :) - G.Cerri, 1887, Scherma di sciabola, p.105 (114 of the PDF) pdf link: www.dropbox.com/s/cgssh836yav271x/scherma%20di%20Sciabola%2C%20Cerri%2C%20G.%20%281861%29.pdf?dl=0 - M.Gambogi, 1837, Trattato sulla scherma, p.11 (24 of the PDF) pdf link: www.dropbox.com/s/5b5drbjdg4n6o5y/1837%2C%20Gambogi%2C%20Trattato_sulla_scherma.pdf?dl=0
actually, they have shown additional tempering on FIF in the form of torch tempering on some choppers to soften the spine. however its more due to the fact that tempering is just not that exciting, as you just hold the blade at between 375F- 450F for an hour or two. however, they do make it a point to say that they have been tempered.
Very interesting and informative...until the very end. You clearly demonstrated that you do not fully understand metal fatigue. An aircraft wing continually bending or flexing, does so under the yield stress ie that necessary for plastic deformation. True It will lead to failure by fatigue fractures but you need in excess of 5 million cycles before you think of that. You can also flex a paper clip wire in the same manner. But if you heavily bend it back and forth (plastic deformation) you will quickly destroy it. So flex your swords within reason as much as you like as you ain't going to achieve the necessary cycles for fatigue. However if you're bent on destroying one the put it in a vice and put all your weight on it! 😀 Ps if you get insomnia there are volumes upon volumes on metal fatigue...
How long does one of your classes on tuesdays last? Just curious. I’m trying to set up to attend next month while I’m in London, if you get my email I sent.
Here is a variation on that question. Many of us must buy a sword (antique or reproduction) long distance, and cannot test it in person. What are the best ways to evaluate whether they are worth buying, depending on the specifications provided by the seller?
I'm David and so is my wife. I wonder, are straight razors tempered? They're never going to experience percussive or bendy forces, but the edge should be as sharp (and so, sharpeneable) as possible.
You should do a video where you do a segment where you play some music using the swords as instruments. That would be awesome. Watch your vids all the time, they are greatly made and super educational
Fantastic video ! Matt did British cutlasses change over time like the regulation patterns? Also do they have the same blade design ? ( Because this one looks really different ) cheers !
Thanks. Yes they did change pattern - 1804, 1845, 1859 (altered 1845), 1888, 1890, 1900, if I recall correctly. Not including cutlass bayonets. But there were hybrid and experimental/small production models as well. This is a standard 1845 pattern, but in very nice condition.
Ok then, since ships often served for 25 years or thereabouts, what would they do if a ship commissioned in, say, 1889, and initially received the Model of 1888 of Cutlass, in 1890, when a new pattern of cutlass came into service? Would the older ships retain the older model Cutlass until either the ship, or the Cutlasses became unserviceable, or would they switch to the newer model?
I always thought a good rule of thumb for any weapon, including modern ones, is when you pick it up does it feel "good" in the hands. I picked a rather short hand-and-a-half sword once and it actually made my arthritis pain lessen! I've also picked up swords of dubious craftmanship and quality and they were so poorly balanced that they hurt me to try and hold.
I don't know about swords but when checking the the blade on machetes I see if the blade rings like you do. I have noticed if the blade is made from a higher carbon steel and the RC is in the low to mid 50's they ring. If the steel used has a lower carbon content and has a RC in the higher 40's they don't ring. So people prefer the lower hardness blades since they sharpen quickly and easily but I prefer the harder blades in the low 50's. They hold a edge longer and spring back if the blade flexes.
It should be mentioned that the files used to test hardness come in different hardness themselves. From a soft file to harder files to give a general Rockwell hardness.
Matt, I wasn't really clear what you were testing outside. Would steel really get damaged by gently thwacking it against a punching bag or some wood? You said doing all that gave you a lot of information, but i didn't understand what information specifically.
rather than just smacking the two edges together, you can take the known hard blade (say a knife) and try to whittle a sliver off the edge you are testing. basically a file test but with another edged blade instead.
In a survival situation, let's say you're stranded on some where ass naked with nothing on you. Any metal or relatively hard stuff (sometimes maybe wood or bamboo) can be sharpened and used as a survival knife.
When I bought khukuris, I used to just get a phone book and hammer away at the edge, spine, and sides of the blade until I'm satisfied that the tang won't break. That's pretty much the extent of my testing.
When I heard the question the context as I understood it was maximus from the film gladiator; as he is sent into a room full of weapons and armour, he choses his iconic helmet, and then presumably would walk along the sword rack, dozens of regularly used tools of the trade, how would he decide which one to take before being let loose in the arena. I would imagine he would know some things to quickly check, like the bell test making sure the handle is attached and the sword wasn't shipped in from china via ebay, where by his blade separates from the handle mid-swing, launching itself onto a platter of grapes in the upper class seating areas; leaving everybody entertained by his untimely impalement by a trident wielding madman,
Perhaps you should have added a caveat that a loose hilt means that it is not necessarily a good sword AT THAT MOMENT, as hilts can be repaired or replaced, as they often were in the days before mass produced weapons.
Please begin every video with “I really like swords.”
it sounded like an AA meeting introduction "I'm Mat Easton, and I like swords. It's been three months since I last bought a sword. I wanted to buy a sword a week ago, but I spoke to my sponsor until that feeling went away" lol
One thing that's forgotten about quenching or lack thereof on weapons, is that the weapon can be work hardened with hammering. It might not be as hard as quenching (and it can be easy to go too far and then you have to anneal the blade), but it's still quite good for hardness, and is how they made hard edges in the bronze age and early iron age.
Another aspect that's not often talked about is edge retention vs ease of sharpening. A blade that holds its edge well, is usually not as easy to sharpen, compared to a blade that doesn't hold an edge well, but is very easy to sharpen. In a survival situation, that's an important thing to consider.
Very underrated comment and a 100% true, by the way 👍
You know your stuff!
You are the best voice for sword enthusiasts. Never have I doubted it
That's me! That's me!
Full disclosure, it wasn't actually me, but I was told to feel free and comment this below, so I did. As is my *right!*
I knew there'd be people who'd take advantage of it...
#metoo
"No! I'm sparticus!"
That's me! That's me!
Freedom of Speech, ain't it grand?
Great job mate. Thank you
The clash of steel, the ring of swords, the song of steel, the singing sword. A dull or off tone can also indicate cracks in the blade. Much like tuning the stays and shrouds of a sailboat.
I'm so ready for the upcoming ASMR swords ding
I can envision it all, Matt is standing there starring through the camera straight into my soul, not saying a single word but making several different sword noises until the video abruptly ends. Sword ASMR with Matt Easton 😂
The sword ringing channel. Now there is something I did not knew I needed...
I'm part of a renn faire group who does presentations about arms, armor and thier use throughout California, and I run into sooooooo many people who watch forged in fire and have no idea about tempering because they generally leave it out.
I don't want to get hit with either sort. I don't want to have to defend myself with a poorly heat-treated blade.
And now I kind of want to start collecting swords and finding a way to tune them to different notes such that they can be used to play music... Because why not?
A wider stiffer blade makes for good penetration. -Matt Easton 2018
Today's My birthday, Great Gift!!!
We need a sword ringing video!
Don't tempt me!
DO IT! JUST DO IT! I will instantly add it to my favorite videos :D
More than that, we need song covers made out of sword rings!
scholagladiatoria Consider yourself tempted.
Dude we can reproduce nursery rhymes with those sword ringing sounds lol
The thought of smacking a knife edge into a sword edge makes my soul hurt.
I cringed and shivered. 😲
Tempering is one of the most important swordsmithing process and yet it's highly understimated.
No one hardened something without tempering. Even the Japanese tempered their swords, it's a process called "yaki modoshi" or "aitori".
Nowadays many people use hardening and tempering interchangeably adding even more confusion on the terms...
Someone should start an orchestra with everyone playing a range of hanging blades.
Which would be a cool name btw. XD
I LOVE IT
Well now I’m sad, tried to play the xylophone on my longsword and it just made a sound akin to dropping your keys. :(
How to test a sword "quickly" - video length 19:42.
Matt, I venture that you are not good at doing things quickly, which explains your loving wife. ;)
Beats Drachinifel
Only use high end swords with surperior harmonics when making a Swordy wind chime. Top tips
I was thinking more along the lines of chimes as orchestral instrument they could be struck with that type of mallet to play a tune.
Matt needs that.
Sam Williams I want to hear Carol the bells played on swords
An alternative to the knife test at the end that was also shown on the forged in fire spin off is simply scratching the blade. If you take your knife of known hardness. With the point or edge attempt to scratch your sword near the edge or on the flat. Similar to the file test if it cuts or scratches it's soft if it glides right across it's hard or has been hardened. A little less barbaric then smashing them together and you can pick a more suitable part of both blades.
Okay, quickly grab the sword.....oh wait, go put on your Super Dry shirt. Okay, grab the sword then spend twenty minutes explaining context and background, wait for you opponent to start nodding off and then stab them.
Good video Matt, I'm sure this will help a lot of newcomers, and it was entertaining for those who are experienced as well.
I like how you're already holding and swinging a sword right at the beginning of your video! I like that cutlass you were testing! Seeing that kind of solid spring in a blade is awesome! You've got a great collection! Definitely a true enthusiast!
Of course you might get banned from those cheap fantasy sword shops if you go in there and discover their stock does not return at all to straight after bending.
I mean yeah, those are great ways to test if you grab a sword and need to kill zombies or escape a jail. But really, if that's the first sword I see, I'm not gonna take the time to test it if I need to get out of there with a quickness. Even if it's essentially a big blunt bar of metal, it'll still do at least some damage. More than I could with my hands. Even wildly flailing like an inexperienced nonce (which I am).
Yay! A short lil 20 minute video
Aldor you’re literally on every Matt or Skall comment section
I really liked the sword ring sound ! That could indeed be a whole clip of just the sounds of weapons. Medieval ASMR Channel :D
*Two useful definitions for hardness and toughness (borrowed from mineralogy):*
_Hardness_ - The ability for the surface of a material to resist permanent deformation.
_Toughness_ - The ability for the body of a material to resist self separation.
*Exemplification in postulates of these two aspects of material strength at play:*
_a)_ If part of a cutting edge has folded, that is a failure of hardness but not toughness.
The material changed it's shape but did not come apart from itself. The geometry in the plane that constitutes the surface has been altered to a degree that the materials shape memory does not cause it to return to a previously held geometry.
_b)_ If that same section of edge were chipped instead of folded, that is a failure of toughness but not hardness.
If you found the missing chip you'd discover under close examination that the preexisting surfaces are undamaged. The newly created edges of the piece of material would be sharp and the newly created surfaces would mesh back into the material from which it separated with a very close to perfect fit. This would show that along the plane that constitutes the preexisting surface that the geometry had not changed. Even though the material let go of itself.
_c)_ Likewise if you were to drive a steel nail into a plate of copper (which does not have a thickness great than that of the nail) with enough force. The likely result is that the side the nail was driven into will be inset and the opposite side of the plate will be outset. This is a through dent. Were you to drive that nail again with a little more force the tip of the nail would break through the plate. This is a pierce. The through dent is the result of a failure of hardness. The pierce is the result of a failure of toughness.
Would the term "resilience" perhaps be more succinct than "tough" when describing the sword's capacity to withstand impact?
Perhaps, but smiths, metallurgists, and metalworkers of all types already use "toughness" as the standard term for the property of how resilient it is, so it's a bit late to change it now.
I'll take a second perhaps!
Different properties on non brittle materials. Toughness is energy before failure. Resilience is energy before plastic deformation.
Might be similar for hardened steel
Cool to know about the ringing. Perfectly timed too. Have my first European longsword on the way(only own katana and sabres as of now) That's a really good, quick way to see if everything is tight. Thank you so much. Hoping I hear that ring...
And there was I thinking you just need to "swish!" it once to the left, once to the right, & then you'd know its quality like they do in the movies!
Great video Matt. No need to test my sword collection as they're all I can afford-cheap wall hangers. Only one came sharp (So I quickly blunted it with a file)- The, "sword of Themistocles", which is one of the two really awful unbalanced heavy lumps in the collection.
Differential hardening is the more correct term used when describing blades that have a softer perlite rich spine. Japanese swords were/are differentially hardened, but are not edge quenched.
Also I'm quite surprised you didn't mention the brass rod test!
Good video.
When i buy a sword i just toss it up in the air in a spinning motion and i hold my arm out. if it doesn't chop my arm off, i'll take it.
... or don't buy cursed swords.
but...moooooooooom....
Lost Marimo
I interested in how many swords you've considered successful. If more than two, than I'm even more interested in how you typed your comment?
no no it's succesful if it does not chop my arm off.
So you're going to use a sword that CAN'T cut through your arm? Good job.
In did the clang thingy with my knife and a cheap windlass sword. It took a good chunk out of the knife...
How to test a sword quickly... 20 minute video ha.
The test is very quick. Explaining and understanding takes a little longer.
Wonderfully covered. Spring tempered steel is tough stuff, and modern steel is just incredible. When I make my knives, the first thing I do when it comes out of the tempering oven is put a test handle on it and stab it into a mild steel I beam as hard as I can. With the steels I use it there is rarely any damage. Even if it’s sharpened there isn’t much damage. Don’t do this with swords (they are thinner in the tip) and don’t do it with stainless.
This sword rings as a bell. I'll show myself out.
You could test the sword by stabbing the guard you've taken it from..
It wouldn't really tell you whether it will stand up to contact with other weapons though.
Then I hope all the other guards are sleeping too...
Falk Heerdeburg Propably not after you stab their mate with a sword. Tends to be rather messy and noisy.
Hmm.. must’ve been the wind
@@frxstyking5912 kind of nice getting a reply after two years. cheers
In my experience swords with the tangs completed surrounded by the grip, such as the katana or many talwars tend not to ring- the tang does not run completely through but terminates inside the grip material.
Skallagrim knows well how to abuse blades ^^
Alex F cold steel did perform the full Wilkinson test on some of their blades and did quite some other abuse...
PS: their blades are very good but the rest not so much (handling, fittings and quality control)
They make sharpened metal bars and test weapons on BUTTED MAIL ARMOUR!
IT'S FUCKING BUTTED
Kris Zimmerman proberly!
How did knights/men-at-arms handle the heat of summer in armour? Perhaps they wore fewer pieces?
for the most part armor was only put on just before it was needed, so people didn't spend large amounts of time in it.
Kenneth Knutsen some even slept in armour if they had to expect enemy contact... still it was certainly done that you wore only half your gear in standby (maybe no plate armour but only gambesson and mail and an open faced helmet rather than a closed one)
Hermes what do you prefer risking a heatstroke or getting squewered by arrows?
Wasn't the surcoat adopted partly as it covered the armour from the hot sun in middle eastern climes?
Maybe most heavily armoured troopd were accomstomed to it through knightly training as page & squire.
These are my favorite Matt Easton videos. Just Matt talking about swords and showing them off to us.
Two additions:
One: If a sword does not ring clean, or only for a short time, it can also indicate cracks and delaminations in the blade. Didn't hear you mention this. This is probably the best reason to ring a blade. A loose hilt is not nearly the issue a cracked blade is. When the vibrations of the ringing hit an inconsistency in the metal it messes with the wavelength and reflects it causing the ringing to die. It is possible in some cases to find the crack in a metal item by ear, tapping around the item and looking for sound changes.
Two: In modern times scythes and sickles are hammer sharpened. You do not grind, you use a hammer straighten the edge and thin it to sharpen.Copper, brass, and bronze all work harden when hammered and soften back up with heat annealing. My guess is in ancient times they edge hardened the swords by hammering.
What about testing its weight, balance and behaviour in the hand if you're a noob? Maybe you want to buy a training sword and you don't know if it's crap or good quality, for example. I've had an antique sabre in my hands in my HEMA club and the veterans were amazed by the difference between the training sabres we use and the antique. It felt lighter, but I didn't know how to move it to feel the balance.
Just a suggestion: If you don't happen to have a file handy, but you've got your "knife of known hardness" (even it that's "Hey, this knife is hard!"), you could perhaps use the very tip of the knife to attempt to scratch just behind the cutting edge of the sword. It's still an unkind thing to do, but it's a bit less destructive than banging the cutting edges together.
Yep, that would work. Though harder to see/feel the results I think.
I am not knowledgeable concerning swords but I have "some" experience with knives . I notice you handle the blades with your bare hands . How do you control rust formation from fingerprints and such . I have often found rusty finger prints within a day or two of handling a knife . I tend to oil rag wipe my knives , I believe, too often .
Ben Franklin, valid question! As a 5-year Scholagladiatoria subber, I feel that I can kiiinda speak for Matt on this(oh, I feel audacious saying that!😃). Anyway, he's mentioned it before, but I can't remember which video. He does the same thing you do. Not only does he wipe down all his blades fairly regularly, he makes sure they always have a light film of oil on them. That way, even if he doesn't get around to wiping a blade down immediately after handling, any salts from his hand sweat should be neutralized, at least for the time being. Also, I don't know about Matt with regards to hand washing, but I believe that washing(or even just rinsing with cold water) one's hands before handling sword/knife blades, can go a long way to mitigate sweat-induced rust.
Andrew Eden Thanks for the input . have you heard of the waxes talked about at " Museum Replicas " ? I haven't tried it myself but noticed a wax like coating on a sword from "Cold Steel" .
Rennaissance wax is often applied after cleaning as a barrier to moisture etc. This protects blades well I hear.
Hello Matt you can do the same "ringing" technique with double barrel shotguns or drillings firearms as well . If it rings you'll know that none of the soldering has come undone and the barrels are connected well to the receiver. Just hang the barrel from your finger where the forearm attached to barrel and ring away.
YAY for Matt Eastons Sword-Sound channel !
When they finally tell you guys to turn in your swords; dangle them in bunches, and say you have a wind chime collection.
My tablet destroyed that sentence. :/
Really good video. Was a bit worried about the 'quick' duration, but it was all really good. I like the Forged in Fire references. I suspect they avoid tempering because it would add time, and some of the audience would not like seeing two 'similar' heat-related processes. Anyway, the show is super fun, esp when they say 'I've made knives, but never swords!' The forge is always too short, heh.
There are two additional things I'd do:
1) thrust at a tree and see if the point bends or dulls (and if the blade bends or the grip loosens)
2) whack a soft wood with the blade and look for edge damage and blunting (and check for rattling).
BTW: most blades will never allow to shave yourself, but you can test if the blade bites into your fingernail or is able to remove a bit of the thick layer of dead skin on your foot...
This was really entertaining and informative. And I'm not crazy about swords and just stumbled on this through a Google search. Even your rants were interesting and informative.
Love this 19th century British Navy cutlass.
It's just perfect.
The outcome of a centuries long evolution.
Both sturdy, sharp and agile.
Instead of smashing 2 bladed edges together inorder to find out which one is harder, you can use the sword or blade to scratch a thick glass bottle.
Many glass bottles from beverages are consistently about 60 HRC and if you use the blade to carve a solid notch in the bottle that you can feel with more than your fingernail, the steel is hard and done WITHOUT major edge damage
Of COURSE it's a good question! Half of UA-cam is about how to tell if a gun is good or not, and people still can't agree.
My phone rings. I suppose it's tight enough.
Please do a "What does this sword sound like?" series!
Many thanks for the detailed reply, Matt. The specific scenario I had in mind was where the lord or boss of the castle returns from some especially dangerous solo mission in which his previous sword was first badly damaged by rough use, then lost entirely in a sort of tsunami.
When he first gets home he calls for his personal assistant or literal batman to fetch him a new blade. He is really not a nice guy at this point in the story and is well aware that his henchmen serve him out of fear, not love.
So, as I said, he does not exactly trust any of them 100 percent. His servant might well hand him a deliberately sabotaged weapon.
It's a brief novel, notable for its sparse, terse prose. It says only that, " Before he had fully undressed, a fresh blade was brought to him. He paused to test it, then nodded.
"
His testing procedures are not specified, but I am going to assume they are something pretty similar to what you just showed us.
If I were to direct a film of it, I would model his testing procedure in this scene on what you just showed us.
_The hilt is completely tight on the tang_
*wink* *wink*
Never can complain about some tight tang....
What do you mean... Isn't it always tight on the tang? I would say it is too tight but that would be my personal experience wink wink
Matt just a quick point on 18:30 , Steel has a pretty special material property that it can flex a practical infinite amount of times without failure as long as the flexes are below a certain strain limit.
Aluminium like in Aeroplane wings (18:17) does not have this property and will fail from small flexes eventually.
Excellent tips for testing a sword. I loved it!
Ask someone to play a song on your collection. Or do it yourself, if you have the skills. I think that would be super cool.
Walk the camera from the sword shed to the garden. I think we'd enjoy seeing how they relate spatially.
It exsists for sale some sandpaper with different hardness, their hardness being measured in rockwell.
If you use those sandpapers from the softer to the harder, you can determine quite easily the hardness of your metal, sword or otherwise.
To anyone reading this, please, do me a favor and never test hardened blades by striking their edges together. You can damage both of your blades and potentially render them unsafe to use should any cracking occur. Or you might just break one or both of them. A file test is much less destructive and will tell you how hard the blade is. Resharpening the edge is much easier than repairing damage.
so for the last part, treat your training weapons as a consumable. test is whenever you need it and when it loses its required properties, replace it. its easier to replace a damaged sword than to fix a damaged health
Matt, in the future I want to know how each sword you decide to make a video about sounds!
Quickly
19:42
Pick 1.
I pick 9
Explaining "How to test a sword quickly" =/= "Quickly explaining how to test a sword"
Aeon Underhand
Kieran Fitzgerald the key here is context. 19 minutes is quickly, compared to the 45 minutes this video should have been, that I would have watched in its entirety.
Not watched the whole video yet but i can tell you that at least one Italian manual suggests to hit hard the flat of the blade on water or a plain wooden plank, in a way that the whole blade hits the surface at the same time. If it resists, the blade is good.
Interesting! If you can recall which manual, I'd really like to know which.
I recall theese for now. (Cerri also suggest to test the edge by hitting an iron nail). if you need a hand with the translation feel free to ask :)
- G.Cerri, 1887, Scherma di sciabola, p.105 (114 of the PDF)
pdf link: www.dropbox.com/s/cgssh836yav271x/scherma%20di%20Sciabola%2C%20Cerri%2C%20G.%20%281861%29.pdf?dl=0
- M.Gambogi, 1837, Trattato sulla scherma, p.11 (24 of the PDF)
pdf link: www.dropbox.com/s/5b5drbjdg4n6o5y/1837%2C%20Gambogi%2C%20Trattato_sulla_scherma.pdf?dl=0
actually, they have shown additional tempering on FIF in the form of torch tempering on some choppers to soften the spine. however its more due to the fact that tempering is just not that exciting, as you just hold the blade at between 375F- 450F for an hour or two. however, they do make it a point to say that they have been tempered.
Very interesting and informative...until the very end. You clearly demonstrated that you do not fully understand metal fatigue. An aircraft wing continually bending or flexing, does so under the yield stress ie that necessary for plastic deformation. True It will lead to failure by fatigue fractures but you need in excess of 5 million cycles before you think of that.
You can also flex a paper clip wire in the same manner. But if you heavily bend it back and forth (plastic deformation) you will quickly destroy it.
So flex your swords within reason as much as you like as you ain't going to achieve the necessary cycles for fatigue.
However if you're bent on destroying one the put it in a vice and put all your weight on it! 😀
Ps if you get insomnia there are volumes upon volumes on metal fatigue...
Steel usually has a fatigue limit. There is some stress below which it will not fail under fatigue at any number of cycles.
Could you make more videos about ringing swords?
How long does one of your classes on tuesdays last? Just curious. I’m trying to set up to attend next month while I’m in London, if you get my email I sent.
Here is a variation on that question. Many of us must buy a sword (antique or reproduction) long distance, and cannot test it in person. What are the best ways to evaluate whether they are worth buying, depending on the specifications provided by the seller?
This video made me love cutlasses more
it has been hardened and tempered. a quenched blade wouldnt flex before it broke however there are differing degrees of hardness after tempering
I'm David and so is my wife.
I wonder, are straight razors tempered? They're never going to experience percussive or bendy forces, but the edge should be as sharp (and so, sharpeneable) as possible.
You should do a video where you do a segment where you play some music using the swords as instruments. That would be awesome. Watch your vids all the time, they are greatly made and super educational
do you ever punch that bag with your fist
Occasionally, yes.
can you make a short i mean scholagladiatoria standed video punch that bag
Matt, I've heard rumours that your interest in swords stems from a stiff interest in thrusts, power strokes and penetration...
that cutlass has a very good, deep bell tone. that is a good sword. i do some blacksmithing. that ring says a lot.
Fantastic video ! Matt did British cutlasses change over time like the regulation patterns? Also do they have the same blade design ? ( Because this one looks really different ) cheers !
Thanks. Yes they did change pattern - 1804, 1845, 1859 (altered 1845), 1888, 1890, 1900, if I recall correctly. Not including cutlass bayonets. But there were hybrid and experimental/small production models as well. This is a standard 1845 pattern, but in very nice condition.
Ok then, since ships often served for 25 years or thereabouts, what would they do if a ship commissioned in, say, 1889, and initially received the Model of 1888 of Cutlass, in 1890, when a new pattern of cutlass came into service? Would the older ships retain the older model Cutlass until either the ship, or the Cutlasses became unserviceable, or would they switch to the newer model?
I always thought a good rule of thumb for any weapon, including modern ones, is when you pick it up does it feel "good" in the hands. I picked a rather short hand-and-a-half sword once and it actually made my arthritis pain lessen! I've also picked up swords of dubious craftmanship and quality and they were so poorly balanced that they hurt me to try and hold.
My go to guy for HEMA said it best, "A perfect sword will scream out 'now go and kill something with me' every time you pick it up."
You could set up the swords to make a xylophone...
Awesome ringing blades. BTW.
I don't know about swords but when checking the the blade on machetes I see if the blade rings like you do. I have noticed if the blade is made from a higher carbon steel and the RC is in the low to mid 50's they ring. If the steel used has a lower carbon content and has a RC in the higher 40's they don't ring. So people prefer the lower hardness blades since they sharpen quickly and easily but I prefer the harder blades in the low 50's. They hold a edge longer and spring back if the blade flexes.
It should be mentioned that the files used to test hardness come in different hardness themselves. From a soft file to harder files to give a general Rockwell hardness.
17.17 You dont need to bang the edges together!! Just use the tip of one to scratch the other, far less destructive
Great idea.
Matt, I wasn't really clear what you were testing outside. Would steel really get damaged by gently thwacking it against a punching bag or some wood? You said doing all that gave you a lot of information, but i didn't understand what information specifically.
That wasn't really gentle :-) If it was soft then it would bend. If it was brittle then it would snap.
rather than just smacking the two edges together, you can take the known hard blade (say a knife) and try to whittle a sliver off the edge you are testing.
basically a file test but with another edged blade instead.
In a survival situation, let's say you're stranded on some where ass naked with nothing on you. Any metal or relatively hard stuff (sometimes maybe wood or bamboo) can be sharpened and used as a survival knife.
sword ring channel when?
When I bought khukuris, I used to just get a phone book and hammer away at the edge, spine, and sides of the blade until I'm satisfied that the tang won't break.
That's pretty much the extent of my testing.
When I heard the question the context as I understood it was maximus from the film gladiator; as he is sent into a room full of weapons and armour, he choses his iconic helmet, and then presumably would walk along the sword rack, dozens of regularly used tools of the trade, how would he decide which one to take before being let loose in the arena. I would imagine he would know some things to quickly check, like the bell test making sure the handle is attached and the sword wasn't shipped in from china via ebay, where by his blade separates from the handle mid-swing, launching itself onto a platter of grapes in the upper class seating areas; leaving everybody entertained by his untimely impalement by a trident wielding madman,
Can you do one of these videos showing how to test rapiers specifically????
Perhaps you should have added a caveat that a loose hilt means that it is not necessarily a good sword AT THAT MOMENT, as hilts can be repaired or replaced, as they often were in the days before mass produced weapons.
I would totally watch the "What does this sword sound like" channel.
ASMR sword ringing pls
Wow! A vid on UA-cam that was really interesting instead of the usual trash. Thanks for uploading it.
You swing it around like Aragon did to that kids fathers sword in the Two Towers just before they fought the uruk-hai army.
Next Video: Matt builds a xylophone out of swords and plays the classics!
aka how to test it rightly?
>41
I'm 26 and you look younger than I do.
Varangian Bill You're already bald?
Varangian Bill playing with swords keeps you young. I'm 32 and look 17.
41? A mere youngster, says the man turning 65 in 5 days.
Stop drinking, the alcohol is making you age or maybe it is because you are a nazi